Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick-Early Review

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Publisher: Harper Teen

Expected Publish Date: 9/9/2014

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Edition: eBook, 226 pages

Madeleine Kuderick’s
gripping debut is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect
for fans of Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.

In
the next seventy-two hours, Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her
freedom, and maybe even herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took
to get her sent to the psych ward for seventy-two hours. There she will
face her addiction to cutting, though the outcome is far from certain.

When
fifteen-year-old Kenna is found cutting herself in the school bathroom,
she is sent to a facility for mandatory psychiatric watch. There, Kenna
meets other kids like her—her roommate, Donya, who’s there for her
fifth time; the birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her
forget her problems . . . for a moment.

*WARNING* This book is written in verse.
What an amazing read. Verse by verse it blew me away. I ran right through the pages. The writing was so succinct. There were no frills just realistic truths on every single page down to the chapter titles.

I've never been a cutter and I don't know anyone who is or was a cutter but I feel like I get it, like I understand even if it's not the entire story. Even if this book just barely touches the tip of what it means to be a cutter. I get it, I understand in just the short amount of time it took for me to get through the book.

I adored the writing style. It was easy to not misinterpret anything that Kuderick said because it just seemed like every single word down to the simplest of them had a purpose. It was a story about a girl who had become a cutter for whatever reason (you'll have to read it and see for yourself) and how she dealt with being locked down in a psychiatric hold for 72 hours after being discovered cutting at school.

Even though I found that the story was the perfect length because of the way it was written I would have liked more--just because. Just because I want to spend more time with these characters. Even though their life is hard, and even though they'll probably always struggle. I wanted to continue to know them, to have more time with them.

I was so engrossed in the book that it took me about an hour to finish it. The writing was so fluid. I believe that this book will connect with a lot of readers no matter what walk of life they may come from.

This was not an "easy" read but it was easy to read. I will probably be thinking about it for a long time. This is the kind of literary debut you want to make.

I've never read a book in verse before, so I really can't say if I'll like it or not. I might try it to see how it goes, and also to take this walk to understand a little bit more some reasons why people do that to themselves. GREAT review, Jazmen! I loved that it moved you. :)

I love when books are so good they make you just want more of it! It's both amazing and super frustrating. I'm glad you enjoyed this one so much! I haven't read many books written in verse but I think I should definitely check this one out.